This is Kyle Rittenhouse, the then-17-year-old who armed himself with an AR-15 and traveled from Illinois to Wisconsin to join a group of people who took it upon themselves to patrol(?) the streets of Kenosha during protests sparked by the paralyzation of Jacob Blake, a Black man shot in the back by a white police officer.
During that night — Aug. 25, 2020 — Rittenhouse shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and shot and injured Gaige Grosskreutz. Now, Rittenhouse faces homicide charges for both deaths, an attempted homicide charge in the case of Grosskreutz, and a charge for being a minor with a weapon — and he has pleaded "not guilty" to all charges.
Ahead of the trial, judge Bruce Schroeder recently ruled that the men Rittenhouse killed are not allowed to be referred to as "victims" in court, because "The word ‘victim’ is a loaded, loaded word," the judge said.
As you can imagine, Kyle Rittenhouse's name immediately started trending on Twitter once the news dropped, and though there's certainly a faction of people who agree with his team's anticipated self-defense argument, many others were furious.
Kyle Rittenhouse shot his victims. No matter what words Judge Schroeder bans from his Wisconsin courtroom.
The range of emotion was wide-reaching. Some were trying to do the math and add up how someone can be charged with homicide if they have no victims:
Still confused how Kyle Rittenhouse can be on trial for homicide while apparently having no victims of said homicides.
Or, even if we play a game of "ifs" and decide to classify Rittenhouse's victims as rioters, how does this justify a random 17-year-old committing murder?
There is zero evidence that Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum were “rioters,” “looters” or “arsonists.” And even if they were, Kyle Rittenhouse had no right to shoot and kill them. None.
However, the largest conversation taking place appears to surround privilege in the eyes of the law — who gets to be a victim, and who doesn't.
Comparisons between Trayvon Martin and Rittenhouse were drawn:
@sapha30184238 @ajplus Trayvon Martin was wearing a hoodie and doing nothing wrong and got killed. His death is justified because he looked "suspicious". Kyle Rittenhouse was holding an AR-15 and killed two people. His actions are justified because he's just a little boy protecting his community.
And overall, Twitter users who were outraged by this news are calling this moment an example of white privilege in the US justice system.
The White Privilege is out of control with the Kyle Rittenhouse case.